December 13, 2008 Weekly round-up.

The lawmakers are said to be commenting that bankruptcy for the Big Three is "out of the question." This is understood to mean that they think the current management could run them better than a Trustee in Bankruptcy. The Doser wonders why they think that.

The Doser is also wondering if the US Senate has the power to refuse to seat a Senate appointee. The grounds would be the likelihood that Blagojevich withstood the siege on his office long enough to close the financial arrangements on the sale of the seat.

It was a big week for private crooks. There was the Blagojevich issue, of course, and the one about Bernard Madoff (spelled without the"e.") That one raises serious definitional issues: The Doser needs to get the exact elements of "Ponzi Scheme" in mind so that he will be able to spot the differences, if any, between Madoff's $50 Billion venture and the US government's $700 Billion bail-out conduct.

And, on the positive side ....

The (bush) administration has announced that farmers need no longer rat on their toxic cows. They need no longer tell the government about the odors rising from their cows' manure.

The vociferies in Portland, Oregon, have lined up on both sides of the pit-bull issue. Those on one side have reason to fear them; those on the other side have reason to love them. This issue will heat up before it it goes away.

O Costas Karamanlis, in Greece, is holding out valiantly, against weakness in his government both in numbers and record of ineptitude. He's not about to be forced to do the right thing by a bunch of roisterers in the streets.

And, another note on the positive side .....

The police in Beaverton, Oregon, captured the man who, while waiting for the jury to come in on a car theft charge against him, utilized the time to steal another vehicle. Is that chutzpah or what?